


Tup is Feline Fine: A fic in which Tup meets a lothcat

by CloneTrooperKit (ZeAwesomePrussian)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Lothcat, Minor Blood Mention, Tup meets a lothcat, tup is a cat person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeAwesomePrussian/pseuds/CloneTrooperKit
Summary: As a shiny (he got his paint last campaign, but is still pretty new to the 501st), Tup visits Lothal, and makes friends with one of the locals. Mild shenanegins ensue, but it's all pretty adorable.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Tup is Feline Fine: A fic in which Tup meets a lothcat

“Perimeter on the East side of the camp is clean, sir. Sweeping around now to the North side.” Reporting into his comlink, Tup glanced around the quiet base, just nearing twilight on their current planet, Lothal. There had been a few skirmishes involving a minor Separatist invasion, and since the 501st was on their way back from picking up supplies, they had been sent here to clean up droid activity. 

As far as battles went, Tup had been told that this one was one of the better ones, but the paint on his armor was still relatively fresh, so this was only the third planet he had ever visited, besides Kamino. Now they were just hanging around the planet for a couple more days to make sure the Separatists didn’t send reinforcements. Tup, along with a few others, had been assigned a shift doing perimeter sweeps, and his was almost done. While this campaign hadn’t been too bad, he was definitely looking forward to getting some sleep. 

Rounding the final corner of their camp, Tup took a moment to look out at the grasslands of Lothal, the horizon a beautiful grey-purple that hinted at stars. Pausing for a moment, he was startled out of his thoughts by a rustling noise to his left. Whipping his blaster towards the noise, Tup’s heart thudded in his chest. 

_ “Always pay attention when on duty, your life could depend on it.” _ Captain Rex’s words repeated in his head as he internally berated himself for losing focus. “Who’s there?! Show yourself!” Managing to keep most of the panic out of his voice, he steadied himself and pointed his blaster at the swaying grass, preparing to fire.

After another rustle, Tup was half a second from pulling the trigger when a squeaky (meow) responded to his questioning and a blue lothcat pushed its way through the grass towards Tup. 

Having never seen one before, Tup looked at it in confusion, lowering his blaster slightly when it became clear that the lothcat wasn’t about to blast him. “Well, hello, little guy. What are you doing here?” Crouching briefly to hold out a hand to it, Tup was pleasantly surprised when it approached his hand, sniffing lightly before pressing its head into his hand, purring. 

Smiling under his helmet now, Tup ruffled its fur carefully, wishing he could take off his glove to feel how soft it was. “Are you one of those lothcats we’ve been told about?” The lothcat purred in response, leaning into Tup’s hand encouraging him to pet him more, which Tup happily obliged to do.

“Tup, is everything alright? You haven’t checked in for the North side yet.” Briefly startled by his comm’s staticky question, Tup realized he hadn’t checked in for this side of camp yet. “A-All clear sir, just got distracted by some of the local wildlife. Perimeter sweep finished, sir.” 

A mildly exasperated sigh came from the brother behind the comms. “Don’t let it happen again, shiny.”

“Of course not, sir. Sorry sir.”

“Head back to your bunk soon, Tup. Don’t stay up all night appreciating the wildlife.” 

“Yessir.” 

With a sheepish grin to the lothcat, Tup sat down in the grass, removing his helmet now that he was off duty. Taking off a glove, Tup ran a careful hand through the lothcat’s fluff. “I should head back soon, sorry.” He whispered to the lothcat, now comfortable enough with it to pet it all the way from its head to its tail, which it curled in a friendly motion. 

Letting out a chirruping meow, the cat began to circle Tup curiously, sniffing at his utility belt. “Oh, you’re probably smelling my rations, huh? We had some animal jerky today…” Opening the pocket, he offered a small piece of jerky to the lothcat, who sniffed at it before grabbing it in its mouth and racing back into the tall grass, leaving Tup sitting alone on the edge of camp.

“… bye, I guess...” Tup sighed, throwing his glove inside his helmet and heading back to camp now that his friend was gone. Walking through the rows of tents, Tup’s head was slightly downcast, disappointed that the lothcat hadn’t stayed longer. 

Pausing briefly on the way to his and Dogma’s tent, Tup nearly jumped in surprise as he felt something brush against his leg. The lothcat had apparently returned, and had followed him into camp. “You came back!” Tup grinned, giving it another pet as it layed on the ground. Stretching happily, the lothcat rolled over, revealing its fluffy belly with a purr. Taking that as his cue, Tup obediently moved his hand to rub its belly, marveling at the amount of trust the lothcat was placing in him. 

In training, he had learned to never leave himself exposed, except for when he was surrounded by his vode. Yet here was this tiny predator, without any vode around him, and trusting Tup to rub his belly. ‘Wish I was as bold as this cat…’ Tup thought to himself.

Distracted by his own musings, he didn’t notice the lothcat’s expression turn annoyed, nor its tail starting to flick. He did notice, however, when the cat finally had enough and latched onto his hand, tiny claws sinking in as it bit his hand as a sharp warning. 

“Ow! S-sorry, I’ll stop now…” Sighing as he shook out his hand to make the stinging go away, he looked at his hand with a put-upon frown as he noticed a few scratches deep enough to draw blood. 

“That wasn’t very nice, you little biter.” Tup glared lightly at the lothcat, who was now sitting up, quite happy with itself and licking one paw. 

“Hmm… regs say animal bites of any kind need to be taken to a medic… so I’ve got to go, little guy.” Hesitantly approaching the cat with his uninjured hand, he gave it one last pet. Receiving a contented purr for his efforts, Tup sighed and headed towards the medical tent. 

“What is it now?” Looking up from a patient’s holopad, the stressed-looking medic on duty, Tup thought his name was Kix, gave him a quick once-over, making sure he wasn’t actively dying before asking. “What seems to be the problem, shiny? I don’t think we’ve met yet.” 

“I’m Tup, sir. And it’s just… a lothcat got a little too friendly, and got tired of me touching it…” Holding up his hand, Tup could see a few of the scratches turning pink in irritation, and the ones that were actively bleeding were small but painful. 

“Just Kix is fine, Tup. You’re the fourth one on this campaign that’s come in with this issue, but as long as we clean them off, you’ll be fine, vod’ika.” Grabbing a few antiseptic wipes, Tup turned back to the entrance of the tent, straightening when he heard a brief scrabbling noise followed by a blue face poking through the entrance. The lothcat had followed him all the way to the medical tent, its tail curling happily and a purr rumbling out at having found its friend again. 

Coming back towards Tup, Kix almost tripped over the lothcat, who had taken up residence in the middle of medical. “What the..?! Is this the one responsible for those scratches, shiny?” 

Tup grinned sheepishly, motioning for the cat to move out of the way, surprised when it complied, choosing to lay across his feet instead, making it impossible to move while Kix quickly cleaned off his scratches and gave him a few multicolor bandages to both cover them.

“Yeah, that’s him. Told you he was friendly…and I’m not a shiny anymore. I got my paint on our last mission” 

Kix sighed, nodding. “Yeah, that was a rough one, brother. Glad you made it out of there.” 

“Yeah… me too… lost a couple good vode there.” Tup said quietly, his posture becoming tighter as he curled in on himself for a moment before moving on. 

Rubbing the new bandaids lightly, he stood up. “Thanks for your help, Kix.”

With an amused smirk, Kix responded, “Anytime, Tup. And a word of advice, never rub a lothcat’s belly, even if it looks like they’re asking for it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time, thanks.” Tup smiled back as he left the med tent, a pattering of tiny feet hot on his tail. 

* * *

The 501st stayed on Lothal for another 48 hours, and Tup had to leave his friend behind, but if he had a little companion following him around and sleeping on his bunk for the rest of the campaign, nobody said anything. (And if it followed Dogma around for a little while too, that’s Dogma’s business).


End file.
